


A Family Reunion

by Rosae



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternatively titled; Death brings us together, BAMF Hela (Marvel), Good Loki (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, Sif tried, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 07:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosae/pseuds/Rosae
Summary: So often were there things about Loki that stood out, that the things not shoved to the forefront slipped the minds of most Asgardians. Loki’s ability to speak in almost any tongue without the allspeak, his talent in healing, his fond friendship with Artemis were all parts of him so often forgotten. Oh that, and his daughter Hela, guardian of those who die from sickness or old age. She just doesn’t come up in conversation much and so rarely stops by Asgard these days, you know how it is.





	A Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I am basically ignoring 90% of Ragnarok + Infinity wars + the majority of the MCU for this but Odin did still die and Loki and Thor are on the same team again. In this universe, the attack on New York did a lot of damage but resulted in very little to no loss of life, Coulson was revealed as alive sooner and SHIELD is still around though weakened due to HYDRA. Also Clint Barton Has 0 kids in this because there is no way Human Disaster Clint Barton even considered reproducing once let alone three times. It doesn’t really come up, I just think it’s important to mention. 
> 
> **Not tagged as Major Character Death, but there is a (**Spoilers**) Classic Marvel "Dead For Like Five Minutes" thing.

Tony was dead.

Tony Stark was dead. His body still just barely warm but his blood no longer pumping through his veins.

Tony Stark, Ironman, was dead. It was all their fault, if they’d been faster about killing Thanos, if they’d moved just a little quicker he would have survived it. Thor had already tried to restart his heart, had already re-powered the arc reactor, Shuri had tried her technology and Dr. Strange his magic but none of it did any good. The man was already dead. 

Steve was shell-shocked. Even now, kneeling by Tony’s body with an arm around Peter, the poor kid in tears, he couldn’t register it properly. Somewhere, he heard voices, directions being given out but nothing registered in his mind. It made an awful kind of sense, Tony had always been only human. More than that, he was a man pushing 50 with a heart condition constantly in high stress situations. 

And yet. And yet. Tony had always seemed invincible, more than Steve or Thor or even the Hulk. More untouchable than T’challa in his suit who Steve half-heartedly noticed was on the other side of the corpse. The corpse. It didn’t feel right that Tony Stark could die, and yet here he was. A corpse. Steve had known the risk of Tony removing his arc reactor to give the last little bit of needed power to the the controls for the shields blocking Thanos from destroying earth. Tony had known the risk, and yet somehow it had never actually occurred to Steve that Tony could actually die. Until it was too late. 

Dr. Strange was by Tony’s head, tears in his eyes for all he could not do. Thor was crying off to the side, face buried in his hands tears for Tony and all others who he had lost. Bruce was over with Clint and Natasha, they were doing a good job keeping him calm at least. Everyone else who hadn’t known Tony gave those grieving a respectful distance as they tried to sort out what was happening next. Sam was among them, figuring out the logistics that Steve had no emotional capability to handle. Bucky hadn’t returned yet from his station where he and Loki had fought off a good chunk of Thanos’s fleet together. Loki hadn’t been happy about being stationed with Bucky, had said he was “less interesting than a boiled cauliflower” and put up a fuss about being stationed with Tony instead who he claimed to be “the only decent conversation around here” but had relented when Thor played to his ego. God. Maybe if Steve had listened. Maybe.

He was moving his hand on Peter’s shoulder now, he couldn’t form words, not yet. What was even left to say? What words could possible capture his sorrow, his regret. What words could Steve find that could make up for even a fraction of the loss they had experienced today. What words could-

“Well drat, is he dead?”

Loki had returned it seemed. All eyes in the room turned to him. Steve felt rage boiling over in his chest at the disrespect but Natasha spoke first in a tone that sent chills down Steve’s spine even through the numbness of his very soul.

“Yes. He’s dead. Died keeping the shields up.”

If Loki noticed Natasha’s tone, he didn’t show it at all. Instead swiftly moving over to where Tony’s body lay and moving in between T’challa and Dr. Strange to prod at the body with his foot. If Steve didn’t have both hands on Peter he would’ve hit the god. What came next out of Loki’s mouth made him reconsider that. That, and Bucky moving to put his flesh hand on Steve’s back in a quiet gesture of comfort.

“How did he die, exactly? Was it directly from a war wound? He doesn’t look that damaged to me.” 

Natasha seemed like she might’ve snapped there too, but Thor had suddenly looked up at his brother. Tears slowing, as if remembering something. It was enough to make T’challa answer, in a hesitant voice, as he had already heard the explanation from Shuri. 

“Stark... Tony removed the arc reactor from his chest and used it to power the controls for the shields. The reactor kept shrapnel from his heart, without it the shrapnel dug too deep and stopped his heart. We have already attempted to restart it but we were too late.”

“So Stark perished from a pre-existing medical condition than? An old wound acting up and not a blow in the heat of the battle?” Loki seemed almost pleased about the prospect and there was a weird sort of hope and confusion blooming in Steve’s chest as they all regarded the god.   
“Yes, can I ask why that is of any importance?” T’challa answered, voice measured as Shuri moved over, now very interested in the goings on. 

“Hela.” It was Thor who had spoke, his voice that of a child who had just discovered a forgotten stash of their favorite halloween candy that had been set aside for a rainy day. “But would she be able to-”

Loki grinned at his brother as he cut him off, the grin was proud in a strange way almost like the way Tony would grin at Peter. “Of course she can. She doesn’t usually bend the rules around for anyone else of course, I taught her to just lie and say she can’t or else everyone would try to get souls back, but this man just saved her several decades worth of backlog and overtime and I’m her father. It wasn’t his time anyways, there was still decades worth of energy left in him, so an exception can be made.” 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but on earth what are you two speaking of?” It was Dr. Strange this time, looking bewilderedly between the two gods. He wasn’t the only one. Even Peter’s tears had dried up by this point as he was too confused trying to understand what was going on. Steve was just watching everything unfold unable to do much more than feel the emotional rollercoaster as it wizzed him around. 

“My daughter, Hela. Protector of those who died by disease or old age. It’s the only thing you humans got right about my life.” Loki replied simply, as if that were the most obvious answer in the world. He didn’t bother to continue the conversation further, instead turning and waving his hand to conjure up a small mirror like portal. It took a moment, but the face of a young woman appeared. 

Her hair was long and black patched with loose spots and white. Her skin switched between a sickly pale, a dark rot and off-green shaded in patches and her eyes were mismatched with one red and one a bright green. And yet, despite an appearance that really should have been horrifying when her eyes took in and recognized Loki her whole face lit up in a way that Steve couldn’t help but regard fondly. Loki smiled at the young woman. His daughter? Huh, that was one hell of a weird concept to deal with at some point. 

“Father! It has been too long since we last spoke! Though I must say I am quite pleased to not have seen you in person again, what with the wars you have been fighting.” Her voice was scratchy but her tone held the smile she wore on her face. Loki returned her smile, a soft warm look on his face that Steve could barely connect to the person he knew the god to be. 

“It is good to see you too my dear. I regret that my work here has kept me from visiting you properly. Thanos has been killed now though, with a star-forged weapon so you nor any other guardian of the fallen should see hide nor hair of him. That is not quite the reason I am calling though.” And Loki moved his hand to tilt the portal down so Hela could see the corpse below him and her eyes changed from fond to interested, a task set before her. “This is, was, Anthony Stark. I have spoken to you of him before. He gave his life protecting the people of earth from Thanos, but the manner in which he did it should bring him under your domain. His life force was strong last I saw him, and there is still much left for him to do in this world. Would you be able to return him?” 

Hela laughed, her face brightening up as she replied. “I know him! He has been here less than an hour and already done everything in his power to prevent us from tending to his wounds for as he puts it he is already dead so it is a waste. He has also attempted escape twice, his spirit is as strong as the Yggdrasil. Of course I can return him. Give me a few minutes to find him and I will bring his spirit over myself. Is my uncle there too?” 

“Yes, Thor is here as well though from the tears he shed for Anthony it appears you had slipped his mind yet again.” Loki said with a pointed look at Thor though it honestly looked more amused than annoyed. With a roll of his eyes at his daughter’s giggle, Loki turned back to the portal. “Thank you my dear, I will fix what I can in his body while we wait. Hurry along, it has been far too long since I have been able to see you properly and long since you have been able to see your uncle.” 

“Of course Father. I will see you soon.” Hela ended the connection, her tone warm and fond just as Loki’s had been. Loki too closed his end of the portal turning back towards Tony’s corpse as if nothing about what had just occurred was even slightly out of ordinary for him. T’challa and Dr. Strange both moved back from the corpse as Loki moved to kneel beside it, both in a state of confusion and new hopeful regard for the god. Steve wasn’t able to process what had just happened, but Bucky steered both him and Peter back a few paces with soft touches. 

As Loki set about mumbling spells and sending green pulses across Tony’s dead body, the room stood in shock. It was Clint who finally broke the silence, his tone that of betrayal, anger, disbelief and a man on the brink of losing his mind. 

“What the fuck do you mean you’ve got a daughter!? How the hell did you raise a kid? Do you have more?!”

Loki regarded Clint with a rather annoyed and vaguely offended expression. “Of course I have a daughter. I had her when I was quite young I will admit, but really I am well into my 1400s it’s not that unusual to have a child at my age. She was saddled with her godhood far too young too, Odin wanted to do anything to be rid of her since he couldn’t stand that she looked a touch different. But I still raised her as best I could and she’s come out of it a lovely young woman, already managing her domain on her own. I don’t have any other children, despite what your legends may tell you. One was enough for me.” He finished his statement proudly, chin tilted up as if daring Clint to make a comment about his daughter. Clint looked like he might actually, but Natasha gripped his arm and that was enough for him to turn to her instead, making flabbergasted expressions.

Thor, surprisingly was the next to speak up. “Aye, my niece Hela is a fine young lady. She left Asgard for her domain of souls quite a while ago.” his voice softer, regretful perhaps. “Hela rarely comes to visit Asgard, usually only than to see her father for a short period or in the case of a dire situation so she often slips my mind. Her tending to the souls of the sick and old is a pride of Asgard though, and she herself is a very strong spirited and kind lady. My brother raised her well especially considering how young he was when she came into his life.” Again his voice trailed off a little, regrets for a past he could no longer change. 

Loki’s own mood appeared to have fallen a little at that, and he returned himself to his spells. Old wounds brought to the surface once more. A bit more of the puzzle of Loki’s resentment for his family fell into place, and Steve could feel Bucky tensing up behind him. He almost wanted to laugh, it didn’t matter that the girl was all grown up now and almost certainly older than Bucky a thousands times over, Bucky hated even hearing about kids not being treated right. There was a tense silence as Loki worked, nobody really knowing what to say. At some point, Valkyrie had moved over to join them. Hadn’t Thor said something about the other Valkyries perishing in an attempt against Thanos when he and Loki were barely able to walk? Valkyrie was stuck in some timeless place after that, so she must not have known about this then. Huh.

The silence in the room and Steve’s own thoughts were broken by a portal very suddenly appearing in the center of the room. There was some muffled noises from the portal, and than a rather upset blue-ghost Tony Stark was pushed out.

“Sheesh, Alright, I’m going already!” He grouched, glaring back at the portal as he stumbled out. His eyes quickly moved around the room but he didn’t seem to be able to see anyone until his eyes settled on Loki. Loki stood up, brushing off non-existent dust but before Tony could speak a second form moved through the portal.

Hela was, as Steve had already seen, a strange creature. She looked like a zombie with the posie of a business woman and clothing made of soft linens more akin to a nurse. On her head she wore a crown made of sharp teeth. Two teeth in the crown were clearly fangs or tusks of some kind, longer than the others and curved similar to her father’s helmet. Despite her rather dead appearance, everything from the way she carried herself to the light in her eyes spoke of liviness. Her expressed seemed rather annoyed as she rolled her eyes at Tony, and Steve had to stifle a hollow laugh at just how often he had fixed Tony with the same expression. Around the room there were gasps and mixed reaction from that strange Raccoon reaching for a weapon to Valkyrie’s blush. 

Loki was the first to break the silence. “Hela, my dear!” Holding his arms out as he stepped out from Tony’s now floating dead body, it was enough to break the glaring match between Hela and Tony (and dear god, only Tony would try to stare down the god of death). With a visible lightening to her mood, Hela moved swiftly into her father’s embrace. She pressed herself in closely and he moved to stroke her hair fondly, magic spilling from his fingertips and untangling knots as they moved.

“It has been far too long.”

“Uh, hey, sorry not to interrupt, but do you mind clueing me into what the hell’s going on here reindeer games?” Tony seems put off, striding forward to poke at his own corpse and stepping through the weird living tree as he did so. Steve tried to reach out for him out of instinct but Bucky caught his hand in time to stop him. 

“Don’t know what could mess up the magic.” Bucky muttered, and Steve nodded mutely. 

Loki broke his embrace with his daughter with a kiss to her head before turning to address Tony. Hela moved on to greet Thor as he did so. 

“You died. Luckily, you died from a medical condition by technicality, making your soul the domain of my lovely daughter Hela. Since you saved her quite a lot of work today, she agreed to return your soul at my request. Come now, the faster we do this the less lifeforce you waste.” Loki took Tony’s hand gently, and Hela returned to the pair after having hugged her uncle. 

Loki guided Tony, who appeared to have gone silent for once in his life, until he was floating above his own corpse. The god looked to Hela, and she careful reached through Tony’s corpse as if it weren’t there at all to grab onto the pulsing light at the center of soul Tony’s chest. Huh, Steve had thought that was the arc reactor in soul form, but maybe not. Hela gripped the glowing ball and just as Tony began to protest, Loki released the spirit and in the same movement Hela pulled him downwards. Something washed over Tony’s body and for one terrible second nothing happened. Than Tony was gasping for breath and bolting upright. The arc reactor hummed to life, and Steve felt like something had just been put back into place in the universe. Loki had moved to help Tony sit up, but Steve couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He was across the room in an instant, a million words on his lips but no sound coming out. As he took up the role of supporting Tony and Bruce seemed to come out of shock as well to check Tony’s vitals, Loki moved back. 

Looking up at Loki and Hela, trying to form some sort of thanks, Steve saw Loki move to whisper something quietly to his daughter with that same proud smile. He looked away even as Thor stepped closer, that moment wasn’t for him. Peter was there by his side again, as were Dr. Stange, T’challa and Shuri. The moment was, of course, ruined the moment Tony spoke.

“Okay, I may have miscalculated that slightly. In recompense, I won’t be angry if anyone kissed me this time. Wait. Retraction I won’t be mad if most anyone kissed me, there’s still some people on the ‘would be mad’ list. If Thanos or the Raccoon kissed me than I’m upset but anyone else is on the ‘not mad’ list.”

And Steve couldn’t help but take Tony up on that. 

\---

Hela smiled down at her work, it was rare that she was allowed to be kind in ways others could perceive. It was rarer still for her to have a good enough excuse to release a soul from her care, but her Father was always good at finding those situations for her and she liked to savour them when they came to her. Stark had been nothing but trouble anyways, hopefully the next time he died he’d converted to properly believing in another group of gods (having her father go so directly to earth had caused an unfortunate crop of believers) or died in battle. Maybe he’d settle down in time, unlikely but possible. So wrapped up was she in her thoughts, that Hela didn’t notice she was being approached until there was a woman standing in front of her. One look told her that the woman in front of her was a valkyrie, but that couldn’t be right. She was far too young, not much older than Hela herself, even if all the valkyrie hadn’t died before Hela’s time. Hela chanced a look at her Father and he gave her a little tilt and shake of his head that meant he’d explain later. It looked like she was in for quite the story later than. 

“Brunnhilde.” She greeted, not bothering to explain how she knew the woman’s name. Hela herself had given up understanding that particular power ages ago. 

“I actually just go by Valkyrie now mostly. Last one left and all, it kinda felt right. I don’t think we’ve met?” Hela nodded, noting it for the future but unsure of where the conversation was going here. Loki eyed Valkyrie for just a moment, before he slipped off to go speak to Thor. Hm, nothing bad but something worth her father giving her privacy. Strange. 

Feeling the need to say something, Hela spoke politely “Thank you for aiding my Father in his fight against Thanos. Fighting that mad-man has occupied far too much of my father’s time and energy for the past century.” Something about that gave Valkyrie pause, as if it were new information somehow. In any case, Valkyrie appeared to file it away for later before turning back to a goal Hela couldn’t understand.

“It was no problem, thank you for returning Stark. He was really important to a lot of people here. I didn’t even know him that well and I was devastated when I thought he was gone ‘cause we weren’t fast enough.” Her tone was far more casual than any other Asgardian Hela had spoken to. Though that being said Hela could count the number of Asgardians she had spoken to recently outside of her Father and Uncle on one hand. 

“My pleasure. Both to see him back to do more with his life and to be rid of him at least for a time.” Her tone a bit lighter than before, Hela regarded how Valkyrie seemed to lighten up considerable at her amused tone. She was quite pretty, a strong warrior’s form but with a softness to it that spoke of mirth. 

“Yeah, I can imagine he’s quite the handful to keep dead.” Valkyrie trailed off, obviously wanted to say something more, but hestianting.

The both of them were distracted by comontion behind them, glancing back at where Tony was trying to stand up much to the protests of everyone, Valkyrie seemed to find new courage.

“Listen this is probably pretty sudden, and I know you’re probably pretty busy dealing with dead people all the time, but any chance you’d like to go see the Gardens of Eskiyliv with me sometime? I’ve heard they’re in a prime cycle right now and I’ve always wanted to go see them, I’d love to have a pretty girl along with me.”

It took a moment for Hela to ensure she’d hard correctly. Oh. She snuck a glance to her father, whose expression was fond even as he pretended to not be watching. He nodded to her ever so slightly, giving his approval and that was enough for her. More importantly, it meant this wasn’t a cruel joke like the first time she had been asked out.

“I’d be honored to accompany you. I have a few things to wrap up and it seems like you might have a lot on your plate here, but I could meet you in about four solar cycles near the Dragon’s Breath asteroid belt?” Hela agreed, her tone softer but confident. Valkyrie seemed delighted by the response. 

“It’s a date! Gives me some time to get the blood off my armor too.”

Hela meant to say more, but her train of thought was interrupted by a crash coming from the portal she had left up to her realm. Her mood soured instantly and her father quickly swooped in, wrapping her up in a quick understanding embrace. Loki glanced behind the two of them as they moved and from the look in his eyes Hela already knew that Valkyrie was going to get a talking to. 

“Don't scare her off, please dad?” It was murmured too quietly for anyone else to hear. His grin turned mischievous. 

“I can’t promise not to scare her since it’s rather the point of the shovel talk, but I’ll do my best to not scare her off.” Good enough. It had to be since there was another crash from inside the portal. 

Hela gave her father a bright smile before waving quickly to those around her and stalking towards her portal so she could see what went wrong this time. 

She could hear words behind her, goodbyes and a few shouts of thanks which certainly helped ease her finding several rooms of her manor collisped. Oh well, she’d gotten to release a soul, see her father again and gotten a date with a very cute girl, what were a few rooms in the grand scheme of things?

\----

Steve had taken to watching Loki in the aftermath. Not, like, stalking. God he didn’t have the time to stalk anyone what with keeping Tony from trying stupid stuff now that he had access to fancy new tech and helping with organizing the cleanup of Thanos’s troops. But since Loki was also around, it was easy to keep an eye on him. The more Steve watched, the more little things he noticed. Like how Loki was the first to challenge his brother but also the first one to defend Thor when the attacker was being a dick. Like how Loki would prod and jab the semi-mentally stable adults of the group with no care, but he never said a cruel word to any of the kids. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way to look out for them in quiet ways Steve wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t looking for them. 

There were also strange moments between Loki and the other asgardians. Not with Heimdall or Thor; they seem to be the exceptions to most of what Steve noticed. The other asgardians who were in and out of the area helping out treated Loki respectfully when someone else was around but they disregarded him completely when it was him alone. Not that Steve couldn’t understand them still being angry with Loki, but the way they looked at him was as if his very existence was the issue. The way Loki just seemed to accept the anger with far too practiced ease didn’t sit right with Steve either. Comments were muttered too, something about Loki being a frost giant? Which didn’t make any sense to Steve. Then there comments about his daughter that Steve went out of his way to shut down, popping in on any conversation he happened to overhear to express his gratitude for Hela. All in all it was pissing Steve off, these people had a right to be angry at Loki but they were mad at him for all the wrong reasons. In fact the only time he’d heard a kind word about Loki it was about his attempted takeovers, which was the thing they should have been mad at him for. And then there was Sif.

Sif and Loki seemed to have an odd relationship, there was far too much comfort and distrust at the same time in any given conversation. Loki would, in five minutes be keeping Sif at arms length while she kept one hand close to her knife and than the two of them would be out working on the repairs together easily trusting one another with their lives. They would both lie for one another in an instant or go out of their way to expose each other with no rhyme or reason. It was almost like how Loki interacted with Thor but taken further. Still, the one difference Steve had noticed is that when Thor reached for Loki, Loki flinched. The movement was small, but always present. When Sif reached for Loki, he never did, even when she was actually going to hit him. 

Steve had already tried going to Thor for answers on why exactly it was that Loki had become… Loki, but Thor just dodged his questions or found somewhere to be. When questioned about Hela, Thor was more than happy to speak of her accomplishments but any poking at her raising just lead him into one of a few happy stories that seemed edited at best. Heimdall wasn’t much help either, only stating solemnly that it wasn’t his place to say. So, Sif was Steve’s best bet for answers. 

It took awhile for him to get her alone, what with the asgardians being desperately needed for help with outer ship repairs since they could go where few others could, and with Sif being one of two people Loki would readily work with. Since Loki’s help was proving vitally important for ship repairs and the only other person Loki worked with was Tony who had been taken off the rooster, Sif had been far too busy to talk to Steve. With Tony finally cleared from medical though, reactor re-stabilized, and the fact Loki and Tony made a surprisingly good team, Sif had been regulated more towards internal repair help and dealing with outcroppings of Thanos’s troops. 

It gave Steve a chance to get her alone. She was working on getting a pathway clear, and Steve was on a mandated break so he’d come over. Sif noticed him right away, he wasn’t exactly hiding when he came in, but she said nothing and kept about her careful movements. There was silence between them for awhile, as Steve thought over his words. 

“Rodgers, by the norns either speak or leave. You’re making the air in here thicker than blood.” Her tone was annoyed, prodding. Fair enough.

“What happened to Loki?” It wasn’t what he was planning to ask, but it was what he wanted to ask. 

Sif let out a sharp bark of laughter. It was almost pained, angry and bitter. “You’ll have to be fair more specific than that I’m afraid, Loki’s had just about everything happen to him at some point or another.”

“I suppose I’m not really sure what I’m asking for. I just. Ever since he got on our side, everything about him screams to me he isn’t a bad person. And look at his kid, I’ve seen her around a few times and she’s wonderful and happy. I keep hearing things muttered, something about a frost giant, and it all just doesn’t sit right with me. What happened? With New York, with everything?” His tone was lost, confused and a bit hurt. He just wanted to understand.

Sif sighed, it was soft though. She turned, and looked Steve right in the eye, pinning him with a piercing look. He held her gaze for several long seconds. Whatever she saw there must’ve been enough for her. 

“Loki.. Hela…” She took a breath. Collecting her thoughts, before she started again.

“Loki had Hela when he was young, maybe fourteen or fifteen by your years. He’s her father, but he was also the one to carry her, added onto that that her other father was a spirit from another sect who died not long after and there was a lot of stigma around her birth. Before even that though, Loki wasn’t really well liked by anyone. Not even his own damn parents, though Frigga loved him I can’t say she ever really liked him. He was too… too different. Never liked fighting much, took to magic far too quickly, all the little things. Then Hela. She came out looking half-dead already, we think it has something to do with her other father dying.” And Sif took another breath, recalling painful memories. Steve was already horrified by what he had heard, but he said nothing. He had asked for answers. 

“There were some that wanted her to be killed, demanded it, called her a cursed child. Some wanted Loki killed too. Frigga was the only reason Loki didn’t have to take her and flee, Odin wasn’t much help until Frigga told him either he protected Hela and Loki or Frigga would be leaving with them. Even then, Odin never liked Hela much either. Thor was still pretty immature at the time and so he wasn’t much good either, he loved Hela though and nobody ever talked shit about her while he was there. Loki did what he could to protect her, never let Odin too close to her, never let her see how much other people didn’t like her. He did a damn good job of it too even when it almost killed him. Odin already didn’t like Loki, but Loki was his kid so he’d put up with him for show and Loki used to do everything Odin said so it wasn’t an issue. When Hela came, Loki started fighting back and Odin didn’t like that at all.” Her tone darkened, and Steve knew what that implied. It was the tone that told him everything he needed to know about what happened when Odin didn’t like someone. God Steve was glad that guy was dead now. 

“Anyways, as you may have heard, Odin kicked her out to run a domain as soon as he could. She was probably fifteen or so by your years at the time and it’s one of the few times I’ve seen Loki fight Odin physically. It was terrifying, but Loki lost because he wasn’t willing to seriously harm family. Odin was. So off Hela went and after that Loki was unstable in asgard. Started spending more and more time away from it, and he was getting better. I thought things would be okay for a bit there, and then everything went to hell when Loki discovered he was a frost giant.” Again, the darker tone. Steve was already ready to kill someone and he didn’t even understand what that meant. For the first time since Sif had started talking, he spoke up.

“A frost giant?”

“Ah yes, you wouldn’t know them. Big old blue humanoids, we have been in between wars with Frost Giants for as long as anyone can remember. Loki’s a runt with a glamor, but he’s still one. It’s how he and Thor found out that Loki was ‘adopted’. On Asgard it’s common for mothers to tell their children to come home before dark or a frost giant will eat them, they play a lot of villains in our storybooks. It did a lot of damage to his psych to find out exactly why Odin treated him different and why he never seemed to fit in.” Another pause, there was so much that Steve wanted to say. So damn much. But he said nothing, he let her finish her story.

“After that, well, he tried to kill himself. Sort of. I asked him about it after, and he told me straight up he wasn’t expecting to survive the fall off the Bifrost. I asked him how he did it and the only thing he told me was that he wished he hadn’t both by what came before and what came after. I asked him about what came after and he just said Thanos and went real quiet. I stopped asking him questions after that. I was too scared that he’d answer me if I asked him anything more. But…” She trailed off after that. Now sitting against the rubble, facing Steve. She looked at him again and he did his best to meet her gaze. Again, she regarded him for several long seconds. Her gaze fell and her hand moved to her pocket. 

“Thanos wasn’t a very detailed oriented guy, but he was a big fan of records. When me and those guardian fellows were dealing with sorting out prisoners Thanos was keeping, I found those records. I turned almost all of them over, but one caught my eye and I decided it was better kept away from anyone else.” Sif pulled a small device out of her pocket, and Steve recognized it instantly. They’d sorted through thousands just like it trying to make sure they weren’t releasing someone who could be a danger to the galaxy from Thanos’s jails. 

It was labeled neatly in the script that the Allspeak couldn’t translate but that Loki apparently had learned to speak. Steve knew what it was labeled though, no translation required. Loki had done a lot of the initial sorting and translating of the files with Steve and Tony’s help (around helping with repairs, healing, dealing with leftover troops and dear god Steve wasn’t sure he’d ever asked where Loki was and heard the man was resting). When they’d gotten to a particular section of the records, Loki had seemed suspicious about something and noted that some records were missing. Steve hadn’t asked how he’d known, just supplied that the records room had been reported as damaged when Sif had entered and Loki had seemed satisfied at that. Now he wished he’d questioned that a little more.

Sif turned the device over in her hands a few times and than held it out to Steve. She looked almost defeated, like she was bleeding out on the battlefield and handing him her gun since his own had been lost. Passing on the torch. Steve took the device with gentle hands, and met her eyes. There was something left for her to say, words in her eyes that needed to be spoken out loud and he needed to hear what came next.

“Listen, I can’t save Loki. I’m his friend, maybe his only friend right now, but I’m too closely tied to all the pain in his life. The terrible, terrible amount of pain he’s dealt with at the hands of Asgard. He loves his daughter and his brother far too much to abandon Asgard anymore either. But I think… I think you might be able to save him. God knows he could use a hero. Hela could do with a few adults around that don’t forget she exists either.” 

Steve nodded, expressing all the thanks that he couldn’t out loud with a look and Sif nodded too. She turned back to her work, and Steve left to go find Tony. He couldn’t do this alone and Tony might actually kill him if he left him out of the loop on this. 

In the end, it took twelve hours before they were able to access the record. It also took getting more people involved than Steve would’ve liked, but at the same time he was glad that he wasn’t going to have to see what was on it alone. Shuri had been put in charge of records translation now that Tony was back out on the field, and since this record has apparently been locked down with some kind of magic, Strange was needed to undo that lock. He considered asking them to not view what was on the record, but honestly extra witnesses might be helpful particularly two people outside of the avengers. He’d already caught them up on the general gist that Loki’s time in Asgard hadn’t been great, but he’d let out specifics. They were both smart enough to figure out it wasn’t something they wanted to know.

Tony was there too, when Steve had talked to him and given him a brief run-down Tony had added his own experiences both with Loki and with Hela. Hela was apparently quite like Pepper, kind but firm and unwilling to put up with any of his nonsense. From what Tony had been able to learn from the other souls in the hour he was there, Hela was quite well liked by them. She was seen as a guardian instead of a warden. From his time spent with Loki, Tony had learned that Loki found sore spots quickly and stayed away from them unless he was trying to provoke someone to anger. He learned Loki was fantastic with kids from one eventful day when they’d found some of Thanos’s wards, and he’d learned that Loki, much like Tony himself, would absolutely put himself in harm's way again and again downplaying injuries in order to protect others. Loki then also promptly framed himself in a selfish light, gave excuses for his good deeds and hide away to do a crappy job patching up his wounds so he could go back out again. Tony had already gotten good at figuring out when Loki had actually healed a wound verses when he had just healed the outer layer of skin so the wound wasn’t visible any longer. He’d be pissed at the guy if he had any right to talk. 

So there they were, all four of them gathered around a monitor as Strange finished up the last of the lock removal. Tony took it than, inserting it into the reader as Shuri started on the translation.

“Alright, let’s see what secrets Thanos kept on his favorite double-triple-agent.” Steve wanted to tell Shuri off for that comment, but he was too distracted by the information pulling up. Everyone was really.

The translation wasn’t even completed yet, but the images included in the records spoke volumes on it’s own. Shuri stiffened behind Steve and his hands were moving up to block her vision before he could even think about it. It spoke to how awful the pictures on the file were that she didn’t protest the hand covering her eyes. Nobody spoke, nobody could speak. 

Tony recovered first, just as the translation program finished up. He moved quickly, shuffling through images and even as he flinched at the violence displayed, and the broken and beaten body of Loki that was the only commonality between images, he still pressed forward. After the images were gone, Steve lowered his hand from Shuri’s eyes. She looked shell-shocked but bit her lip and stood up straight anyways. Her voice was clinical now, it sounded like someone else’s. 

“Records indicate about two years worth of torture, which matches up to the gap between when he disappeared from Asgard and reappeared on earth. And.. hang on there’s something else here. Looks like a record of medication? Nothing I’ve ever heard of though.” 

Tony caught on to the same chunk of text she did. He pulled it out of the file, blew it up on the screen and started scanning it, trying to make heads or tails of the information.

“All attempts but the last one are listed as No result, last listing says limited success. Were these tests?”

“No.” It was Strange who had spoke up now, he looked almost quesy looking at the list which was weird on it’s own since Steve hadn’t seen the guy so much as flinch since Tony’s death. All eyes were on him now. “It’s a list of spells, all some form of control spells but they are… at best these spells are damaging to the mind. At worst they would ripe a weak mind apart. To have survived even one of these on it’s own is a feat. To have survived all of them, resisted all of them for two years with the other torture... Well I would call it impossible but it appears the impossible is Loki’s favorite past time.” There was a growing respect in Strange’s voice, but Steve just wanted to hurl at this point. 

“Wait, the last one is listed as limited success, deployment ready. And that was just a few days before the attack on earth. You’re telling me the entire attack on earth he was under a damn spell?” Tony’s voice was getting angrier and angrier but Steve wasn’t sure who the anger was meant for. Steve was pretty damn pissed too, but he wasn’t even sure where to direct his own anger. 

Strange nodded. “It appears that he had some sucess in resisting the spell, but not enough to alert anyone to his condition. It would explain why his magic was so limited when you fought him. I was wondering about that myself now that I’ve seen what he’s properly capable of.” 

“Why didn’t he say anything? He must’ve known that he was under a spell, probably came out of it after the Hulk smashed him around. So why didn’t he tell us?” Steve wondered aloud even as he came to the same conclusion as everyone else in the room did.

“Nobody would’a believed him anyways. His own brother didn’t notice that he wasn’t acting of his own according so what would’ve been the point of it?” It was Shuri this time. Everyone else agreed in silence. 

Steve reached out and ejected the record holder. They’d seen enough to understand what had happened and what needed to be done. The record was tucked back into a pouch. What now? 

“He’d be welcome in Wakanda. We’ve got good shit for healing mental health stuff, worked well enough for Barnes. He’s also never been involved in a war there or fought any of us, hell the majority of the population doesn’t even know about the attack on New York since they pay so little mind to the outside world. I could say I want to work on improving defenses against magic. My brother wouldn’t question it either, not if I used a no-questions asked. He owes me one of those.” Shuri offered, and god Steve already knew the wonders that she had been able to do for Bucky, but Loki wouldn’t ever accept going to Wakanda for anything longer than a few days. Not only would he stick out like a sore thumb, there just wasn’t anything to keep him there. Shuri seemed to realize that flaw too, as she had gone quiet. 

“We could make him an Avenger.” Tony’s voice was quiet, but the suggestion serious. Steve considered it, mulling over the details in his head, it actually had a decent chance of working.

“Thor will be needed back on Asgard now that he’s the king, so he can’t stay a full-time Avenger and we could always use someone well versed in both magic bullshit and alien bullshit. We could ask for his help in setting up intergalactic relations. Public would take some time to win over but if we put token restraints on him and show the footage of him and Bucky beating down those alien feets I think they’d come around pretty quick. He’s good at PR too, god knows it’d be nice to have someone else on the team who understands politics. We could keep our eye on him, keep him away from Asgard and let him do something right in his life.” Tony was rambling now, but it was his planning rambling. Guess they were doing this than. Steve had to wonder exactly how long it would take Tony to have a plan for a floor of the tower customized for Loki (or honestly knowing Tony and his overplanning whether or not Tony already had one). 

“It could work. Loki already likes you well enough, he doesn’t seem too eager to go back to Asgard. Clint and Natasha won’t like it, but I think if I show them what’s on here they’ll change their minds on that quickly enough. We’ll need to be careful about Loki and Clint near each other, but Loki seems to be doing a good enough of a job of keeping away from him on his own. Clint also has been a lot less hostile since he found out Loki has a kid and did a good job raising her.” Steve nodded to himself. 

”I could request his assistance in learning some of the healing spells he uses. I would like to learn from him regardless, and he may be more comfortable with another magic user in contact. I can also check to see if any of the spell that afflicted him before is still clouding his judgement.” Strange still looked a bit shaken but a plan was forming and it was helping all of them. 

“My offer for him to come to Wakanda still stands. He wouldn’t stay, but he’d still be welcome. Maybe I can see if I can get him to bring his daughter with him so I can meet her, getting to properly meet a death god would be so cool and I’ve already got a million questions.” Shuri’s mood was picking up already and Steve was glad. She was too damn young to be involved in all of this or be seeing this things. Not that he’d been any older when he’d started getting into fights, but damn it it was stressful to be the adult watching these kids out here! Which reminded him yet again that he needed to thank Bucky for not just locking him in a pillow covered room when he was younger. 

It was going to take time. It was going to take effort and it wasn’t perfect by a long shot. But with Tony preparing to make Loki an offer as soon as he had the god in a good mood, they had a plan.

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as a little idea between a friend of mine and I on discord and it ballooned into this monster of a one-shot. Still have some ideas for it and may come back to it to give Hela more interactions with the avengers since I wanted this to focus more on her, but for right now it’s considered completed. Also, on ages I decided that Asgardian aging slows down compared to humans after they hit maturity, so in human years Loki had Hela when he was 14-15, but he’s now only about 25 in human terms even though she’s about 18.


End file.
